Susanna J. Sturgis   Martha's Vineyard writer and editor
writer editor born-again horse girl

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When Will They Ever Learn?

August 11, 2006

That the human damage of war has a longer half-life than uranium, and that suppression is not a long-term disposal technique?

That treating the symptoms doesn't cure the disease? Sometimes the disease goes away by itself. Sometimes it blows up and knocks you out. Sometimes it kills you. Sometimes it spreads.

That if tanks started rolling down your streets, you might be out there throwing stones, and if the powerful ones refused to listen to you for long enough, you might try drastic measures to get their attention?

That maybe fewer people would believe in an avenging god if justice were more readily attainable on earth?

That the ghosts kept coming until Scrooge realized the fault lay not in the ghosts but in himself?

That if some people on your side read their book selectively, with self-interest and even malice aforethought, maybe the same thing is true of the people on their side? Maybe the problem isn't the book?

That war is its own reward? One, two, three, what are we fighting for? More war. Ain't it grand?

That perfect security is a mirage, and the journey toward it may destroy us all?

That countries as well as people can lose their souls?

 

Now a house that is built upon sand has a view of the waters
And the rich man sits feasting his eyes on their power and might
But El Niño remembers the poor and their sons and their daughters
And the waters reclaim what is theirs in the dark of the night

Beware, Angelenos, the wind of the child is upon you
So strong and so wild, it has come to the land of the brave
Your waters unshared have returned with a force that may drown you
Without pity El Niño may blow you back into the sea

Bob Franke, "El Niño," The Desert Questions
(Telephone Pole Records, 2001)

 

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